Brought back memories of family gatherings in the mid to late 1950s. Butchering chickens. Grandma heating water on the wood fired kitchen stove. Grandpa pumping water from the well, hauling buckets to the kitchen, then the hot water to the rest family. Chicken killed and bled. Dipped in bucket of hot water to loosen up feathers. Then everyone plucking feathers and pulling pin feathers.

Dad purchased a deep freezer in the mid 1950s. He just about went on the war path when he found out that he had to pay 35 cents a year in personal property tax on the freezer. Prior to the purchase of the deep freezer the family rented a box (large safe deposit box) at the local freezer plant.

You sure brought back some memories there Eugene, We never killed that many chickens at home, but I remember the locker plant with the rental boxes. You could take your beef, goat, deer, etc. carcass in, and they would butcher and package it for you, even skin it if you did not want to do it yourself. They also sold meat they bought from customers, some traded it to the locker plant to pay their bill. If you had a lot of chickens they even had a mechanical chicken plucker that was really fascinating for an 8 year old kid to watch run.

Never seen such a device myself.Mom always blocked the entrance to the coop after dark and us boys went in the next morning to nab them among the dust and feathers flying every where.It was a pretty big thrill for 3 of us boys, younger brother held the feet while I pulled the noose tight over the tree stump as Big bro came down with the hatchet... Turn them loose and see just how far they can go, as Boss would say " here in the West Virginia hills they could flop and run a right good piece." The worst part was smell of plucking and the burning of the under hair over the kitchen stove.

Dang, I guess I'm getting old...

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.Ben Franklin

Stanton wrote:I've made one out of a coat hanger wire attached to the end of an old, wooden broom handle. Great way to catch those girls, uh, hens, I mean!!

We made them out of coat hangers to. Sometimes when we were going to kill quite a few, we would catch them off the roost and put them in a coupe the night before. I would climb up in an old limby pine tree that they always roosted in, catch them and bring them down. It was fun for a young kid.